The star has handed over the complete sum of his £25k honor prize money to the MVT, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's small concert spaces.
He was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his latest record his work was named the top album of the last 12 months.
The musician has opted to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing my current career if it hadn't been for all the gigs I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was just getting going," stated Sam Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, well-known musicians like the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its efforts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their ticket costs, which supports independent venues.
Sam Fender also participated, generating in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help thirty-eight grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds supported spaces that were confronting imminent closure due to issues stemming from floods, blazes and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and sound issues.
Additional spaces received funding support in modernizing facilities and technical equipment that helped musicians and concertgoers.
"The notion that money from performances in major spaces supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just common sense," the star has commented.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to good deeds.
When the band received the trophy in 1996 for their album the album, lead singer Jarvis Cocker stated that the group would give their winnings to the non-profit War Child.
That year, rapper and singer she split her bounty across a few organizations, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also gave a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they needed new equipment," the artist explained to the media.
Two years ago, the band gave their prize money to the community center that supported their band, as well as other independent music bodies.
Also 1994 winners the group contributed their award to a MS organization after a close contact was diagnosed the condition.
"Winning was sufficient," said artist the singer. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the cake. So our victory affected somebody else's life."
Recently, the trust revealed it had protected two grassroots venues in the South East, by placing them under local control.
The Joiners in that area and the other in the city were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who purchase "ownership units" in the buildings.
